WO2020198911A1 - System and method for managing pick-up and return of rental items - Google Patents

System and method for managing pick-up and return of rental items Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020198911A1
WO2020198911A1 PCT/CN2019/080341 CN2019080341W WO2020198911A1 WO 2020198911 A1 WO2020198911 A1 WO 2020198911A1 CN 2019080341 W CN2019080341 W CN 2019080341W WO 2020198911 A1 WO2020198911 A1 WO 2020198911A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
rental
offer
stations
return
items
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PCT/CN2019/080341
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French (fr)
Inventor
Tzu-Chi KUNG
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Kung Tzu Chi
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Publication date
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Priority to PCT/CN2019/080341 priority Critical patent/WO2020198911A1/en
Publication of WO2020198911A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020198911A1/en

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/10—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for means for safe-keeping of property, left temporarily, e.g. by fastening the property
    • G07F17/12—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for means for safe-keeping of property, left temporarily, e.g. by fastening the property comprising lockable containers, e.g. for accepting clothes to be cleaned
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/12—Payment architectures specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
    • G06Q20/127—Shopping or accessing services according to a time-limitation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/0014—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00

Definitions

  • the disclosure relates to a rental system, and more particularly to a system for managing pick-up and return of rental items.
  • Some big chain stores may establish rental stations at multiple locations for providing the rental service, and use a central control station that is communicatively coupled to the rental stations for remotely managing and controlling pick-up and return of rental items at the rental stations.
  • a drop-off service (rent at one station, return at another) is provided.
  • each rental station is limited in terms of capacity for receiving the rentalitems.
  • arental station with fully occupied parking docks can only provide rentals but not receive returns, which is inefficient in terms of service provision.
  • a single rental station only has a limited number of electric motorcycles/scooters available for rent.
  • the rental station When all of the electric motorcycles/scooters are rented out, the rental station will become idle, and can only wait passively for the return of the rented electric motorcycles/scooters, and people who want to rent a motorcycle/scooter may need to wait for a long time.
  • an object of the disclosure is to provide a system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items.
  • the system can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
  • the system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items configured to receive messages sent by the system.
  • the system includes a rental station and a central control station.
  • the rental station has a receivable number and includes a pick-up and return unit and a management unit.
  • the pick-up and return unit is configured to accommodate the receivable number of the rental items, is operable to perform pick-up actions and return actions with respect to the rental items, and is further configured to generate a transaction message in response to performing any one of the pick-up actions and the return actions.
  • the management unit is communicatively coupled to the pick-up and return unit for receiving the transaction message therefrom, and is configured to output, based on the transaction message, an item availability count representing a number of the rental itemsthat are currently available for rent at the pick-up and return unit.
  • the central control station is communicatively coupled to the rental station, is wirelessly and communicatively coupled to the rental items, and includes an offer setting unit and a messaging control unit.
  • the offer setting unit is set to have an offer triggering number that is smaller than the receivable number of the rental station, and to have a return-related offer message containing description of an offer program related to the return of at least one of the rental items to the pick-up and return unit of the rental station.
  • the messaging control unit is configured to receive the item availability count from the rental station, and to transmit the return-related offer message to at least some of the rental items in a rented state when the item availability count is smaller than the offer triggering number.
  • An object of the disclosure is to provide a method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations.
  • the method can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
  • the method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations.
  • Each of the rental stations has a corresponding receivable number
  • the method includes: A) for each of the rental stations, outputting, to a central control station by the rental station when one of pick-up action and return action is performed with respect to one of the rental items at the rental station, an item availability count representing a number of the rental items that are currently available for rent at the rental station; and B) receiving, by the central control station, the item availability count of each of the rental stations, and, wirelessly transmitting, by the central control station when the item availability count of one of the rental stations is smaller than an offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations, a return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations to at least some of the rental items in a rented state.
  • the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations contains description of an offer program related to return of at least one of the rental items to said one of the rental stations.
  • FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram exemplarily illustrating an embodiment of the system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items according to the disclosure
  • FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating steps of an embodiment of the method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations according to the disclosure.
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the embodiment of the system according the disclosure.
  • the embodiment of the system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items 800 at multiple rental stations 3 is shown to include the rental stations 3 that are respectively disposed at different locations, and a central control station 4 communicatively coupled to the rental stations 3 and capable of wireless communication with the rental items 800.
  • the wireless communication may be performed by conventional wire less networking means, such as mobile telecommunications technology, WiFi, or the like.
  • Each of the rental items 800 has a positioning function and is thus capable of obtaining a current position thereof using the global positioning system (GPS) and/or network positioning technology, and also a wireless communication function and can thus wirelessly transmit its current position to the central control station 4, and wirelessly receive messages sent by the central control station 4 (e.g., push notification from the central control station 4) .
  • the rental items 800 may be bicycles, electric vehicles, fuel vehicles, audio/video guide devices, mobile phones, wireless routers, or any other electronic devices that are capable of positioning and of wireless transmission, and that can receive and display messages from another electronic device that is in communication therewith.
  • the central control station 4 may communicate with the rental stations 3 via a wireless communication network, wired communication network, and/or mobile telecommunication network.
  • the rental items 800 are exemplified as electric vehicles.
  • Each rental station 3 includes a pick-up and return unit 31, and a management unit 32 communicatively coupled to the pick-up and return unit 31.
  • the pick-up and return unit 31 is configured to accommodate, at its full capacity, a receivable number of the rental items 800, is operable to perform pick-up actions and return actions with respect to the rental items 800.
  • the pick-up and return unit 31 in this embodiment may include the receivable number of parking docks, each of which is operable to lock an electric vehicle in response to a return operation and to release an electric vehicle previous ly locked thereto in response to a pick-up operation.
  • the pick-up and return unit 31 is further configured to generate a transaction message in response to performing any one of the pick-up actions and the return actions, and to transmit the transaction message to the management unit 32.
  • the management unit 32 is set to have (e.g., store) the receivable number, receives the transaction message from the pick-up and return unit 31 to acquire/calculate an item availability count that represents a number of the rental items 800 that are currently available for rent at the pick-up and return unit 31, and outputs the item availability count to the central control station 4.
  • the management unit 32 may temporarily cease the function of receiving return actions, and only permit picking-up of the rental items 800.
  • the management unit 32 may be implemented as a processor executing program code to perform the actions described above, but this disclosure is not limited in this respect.
  • the rental stations 3 are independent from each other in terms of the receivable number, meaning that the receivable number corresponding to one rental station 3 may be the same or different from the receivable number corresponding to another rental station 3.
  • the central control station 4 includes an offer setting unit 41, an offer availability calculating unit 42, a filtering unit 44, a timer unit 43, and a messaging control unit 45, each of which may be a module of program code executed by a processor of the central control station 4, but this disclosure is not limited in this respect.
  • the offer setting unit 41 is operable to set, for each of the rental stations 3, an offer triggering number, an offer ending number, an offer period, a filtering distance, and a return-related offer message that are independent from those for other rental stations 3. Namely, any two of the rental stations 3 may correspond to either the same combination or different combinations of the offer triggering number, the offer ending number, the offer period, the filtering distance, and the return-related offer message. For each rental station 3, both of the offer triggering number and the offer ending number are smaller than the receivable number, and the offer ending number is greater than the offer triggering number.
  • the corresponding return-related offer message contains description of an offer program (e.g., a limited-time offer, such as discount of payment) related to the return of at least one of the rental items 800 to the pick-up and return unit 31 of the rental station 3 (incentivizes the return of rental items 800) , specifies a return condition, and is used to notify renters of the rental items 800 that the renter would be entitled to receive a benefit (e.g., a discount of payment) if the rental item 800 that the renter has rented is returned to the rental station 3 in a way that complies with the return condition.
  • the return condition may be, for example, that the rental item 800 is returned within a specific period of time, that the rental item 800 isthe first N number of rental items 800 to have been returned since the commencement of the offer program, etc.
  • the offer availability calculating unit 42 is configured to be triggered by the messaging control unit 45 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the offer availability calculating unit 42 calculates a offer available number which is a difference between the offer ending number and the latest item availability count and which represents a remaining number of spots available for the rentersto be entitled to the benefit in the offer program, and changes/adjusts the offer available number in response to change in the item availability count.
  • the maximum value for the offer available number is the offer ending number.
  • the offer available number would be seven.
  • the item availability count would become five, and the offer available number would be reduced tofive.
  • the item availability count is changed to zero, and the offer available number is increased to ten.
  • the filtering unit 44 is built in with a plurality of locations (e.g., in a form of coordinates) respectively of the rental stations 3, and is configured to be triggered by the messaging control unit 45 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the filtering unit 44 wirelessly communicates with each of the rental items 800 in the rental state to cause each of the rental items 800 in the rental state to provide/return the current position thereof to the filtering unit 44, obtains/calculates a distance from said one of said rental stations 3 for each of the rental items 800 in the rented state based on the current positions of the rental items 800 in the rented state and the location of said one of the rental stations 3, and screens out any of the rental i tems 800 that is in the rented state and that is located within the filtering distance for said one of the rental stations 3 from said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the timer unit 43 is configured to be triggered by the messaging control unit 45 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3, so as to time the offer program.
  • One implementation of timing the offer program is to count the time elapsed from the commencement of the offer program.
  • One implementation of timing the offer program is to perform countdown of the offer period, wherein the offer program is terminated by the time of completion of the countdown. This disclosure is not limited to the way of timing the offer program.
  • the messaging control unit 45 is communicatively coupled to the rental stations 3 for receiving the item availability counts respectively of the rental stations 3, is communicatively coupled to the offer setting unit 41 for acquiring the offer triggering number, the offer ending number, the offer period, the filtering distance, and the return-related offer message set for each of the rental stations 3, is communicatively coupled to the offer availability calculating unit 42, the timer unit 43, and the filtering unit 44, and is configured to activate its offer messaging function so as to trigger operations of the offer availability calculating unit 42, the timer unit 43, and the filtering unit 44 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the offer availability calculating unit 42 is triggered by the messaging control unit 45 to calculate the offer available number for said one of the rental stations 3;
  • the filtering unit 44 is triggered by the messaging control unit 45 to cause each of the rental items 800 in the rental state to provide/return the current position thereof, to obtain/calculate the distance from said one of said rental stations 3 for each of the rental items 800 in the rented state based on the current positions provided by the rental items 800 in the rented state and the location of said one of the rental stations 3, and to screen out any of the rental items 800 that is in the rented state and that is located within the filtering distance for said one of the rental stations 3 from said one of the rental stations 3; and the timer unit 43 is triggered by the messaging control unit 45 to start to time the offer program for said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the messaging control unit 45 acquires the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations 3, modifies the return-related offer message to include the offer available number and information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period (e.g., remaining time to termination of the offer period, or the offer period itself) for said one of the rental stations, and transmits the modified return-related offer mess age to each of the rental items 800 that have been screened out by the filtering unit 44.
  • the return-related offer message received by the rental items 800 would show the offer available number and the information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period in addition to description of the offer program.
  • display of the information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period may be realized in a way that the rental items 800 show a result of timing performed by the timer unit 43 or by the rental items 800 (if the rental items 800 have a timer function) in a real time manner, or in a way that the rental items 800 simply show the entire time length of the offer period or a time of termination of the offer program.
  • the messaging control unit 45 is further configured to cause the offer availability calculating unit 42 to recalculate the offer available number for said one of the rental stations 3 and to cause the filtering unit 44 to re-screen the rental items 800 when the item availability count provided by said one of the rental stations 3 changes, and to then transmit, to each of the rental items 800 that are newly screened out, the return-related offer message that contains the recalculated offer available number and updated information with respect to the timing of the offer program or the offer period.
  • the messaging control unit 45 further transmits, to each of the rental items 800 to which the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations 3 was transmitted, an offer ending message that indicates that the corresponding offer program for said one of the rental stations 3 has ended.
  • the embodiment of the method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations according to this disclosure includes steps as described in FIG. 2 with referenced to FIGS. 1 and 3.
  • step 100 for each of the rental stations 3, when a rental item 800 has returned or when a rental item 800 is newly rented out, the rental station 3 updates the item availability count thereof and outputs the same to the central control station 4.
  • step 200 the central control station 4 initiates the offer program and activates the offer messaging function for one of the rental stations 3 when the item availability count of said one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3.
  • Step 200 includes sub-steps 201-203.
  • the central control station 4 calculates the offer available number for said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the central control station 4 causes each of the rental items 800 in the rented state to return the current position thereof, calculates the distance from said one of the rental stations 3 for each of the rental items 800 in the rented state, and screens out any of the rental items 800 that is located within the distance filtering range for said one of the rental stations 3 from said one of the rental stations 3.
  • the central control station 4 acquires the return-related offer message and information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period for said one of the rental stations 3, modifies the return-related offer message to include the information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period and the offer available number, and transmits the modified return-related offer message to the rental items 800 that were screened out in sub-step 202.
  • step 300 the central control station 4 determines whether the offer program for said one of the rental stations 3 should be terminated (i.e., determining whether a predetermined offer ending condition is met, such as a first offer ending condition that the offer available number becomes zero, or a second offer ending condition that the timing of the offer program has ended, etc. ) .
  • Step 300 includes sub-steps 301-305.
  • sub-step 301 the central control station 4 determines whether the item availability count of said one of the rental stations 3 has changed. When the item availability count is unchanged, the flow goes to sub-step 302. Otherwise, the flow goes to sub-step 304.
  • sub-step 302 the central control station 4 determines whether the offer period has elapsed from commencement of the offer program. The flow goes to sub-step 303 upon determining that the offer period has elapsed, and goes back to step 301 when otherwise.
  • the central control station 4 transmits the offer ending message to each of the rental items 800 to which the return-related offer message was sent.
  • sub-step 304 the central control station 4 determines whether the latest offer available number equals zero. The flow goes to sub-step 303 when the offer available number equals zero, and goes to sub-step 305 when otherwise.
  • sub-step 305 the central control station 4 determines whether the offer period has elapsed from commencement of the offer program. The flow goes to sub-step 303 upon determining that the offer period has elapsed, and goes to back to step 200 when otherwise.
  • the central control station 4 controls a lasting period of the offer program by setting the offer period.
  • the setting of the offer period may be omitted, in which case the offer program is not limited by time, and is only controlled based on the offer available number.
  • the filtering unit 44 screens out the rental items 800 located within a specific distance from a specific rental station 3, and transmits the return-related offer message to the rental items 800 that were screened out.
  • the filtering/screening procedure may be omitted, and the return-related offer message is transmitted to all of the rental items 800.
  • the central control station 4 would initiate an offer program for the rental station 3, and transmit the return-related offer message to the rental items 800 within a specific range from the rental station 3.
  • Such mechanism can effectively encourage nearby renters to return the rental items 800 to the rental station 3, so as to maintain a certain number of the rental items 800 at the rental station 3 for rent, significantly enhancing operation efficiency of the rental station 3.

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Abstract

A system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items (800) is provided to include a rental station (3) and a central control station (4). The rental station (3) can accommodate a receivable number of the rental items (800), and transmits an item availability count of the rental items (800) to the central control station (4). When the item availability count is smaller than an offer triggering number, the central control station (4) transmits, to at least some of the rental items (800) in a rented state, a return-related offer message containing description of an offer program related to return of at least one rental item (800) to the rental station (3).

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING PICK-UP AND RETURN OF RENTAL ITEMS FIELD
The disclosure relates to a rental system, and more particularly to a system for managing pick-up and return of rental items.
BACKGROUND
Recently, the rental industry has grown tremendously with respect to vehicles, audio/video guide devices, mobile devices, computers, wireless routers, etc., for instance. Some big chain stores may establish rental stations at multiple locations for providing the rental service, and use a central control station that is communicatively coupled to the rental stations for remotely managing and controlling pick-up and return of rental items at the rental stations. Oftentimes, a drop-off service (rent at one station, return at another) is provided.
One practical problem rental companies face stems from the fact that each rental station is limited in terms of capacity for receiving the rentalitems. For example, in the business of renting out electric motorcycles/scooters, when a large number of the electric motorcycles/scooters are returned to a specific rental station in a short amount of time, there may not be enough parking docks for so many electric  motorcycles/scooters, so some users would have to wait for release of occupied parking docks, resulting in inconvenience. In addition, arental station with fully occupied parking docks can only provide rentals but not receive returns, which is inefficient in terms of service provision. Similarly, a single rental station only has a limited number of electric motorcycles/scooters available for rent. When all of the electric motorcycles/scooters are rented out, the rental station will become idle, and can only wait passively for the return of the rented electric motorcycles/scooters, and people who want to rent a motorcycle/scooter may need to wait for a long time.
SUMMARY
Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items. The system can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, the system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items configured to receive messages sent by the system is provided. The system includes a rental station and a central control station. The rental station has a receivable number and includes a pick-up and return unit and a management unit. The pick-up and return unit is configured to accommodate the receivable number of the rental items, is operable to perform pick-up actions and return  actions with respect to the rental items, and is further configured to generate a transaction message in response to performing any one of the pick-up actions and the return actions. The management unit is communicatively coupled to the pick-up and return unit for receiving the transaction message therefrom, and is configured to output, based on the transaction message, an item availability count representing a number of the rental itemsthat are currently available for rent at the pick-up and return unit. The central control station is communicatively coupled to the rental station, is wirelessly and communicatively coupled to the rental items, and includes an offer setting unit and a messaging control unit. The offer setting unit is set to have an offer triggering number that is smaller than the receivable number of the rental station, and to have a return-related offer message containing description of an offer program related to the return of at least one of the rental items to the pick-up and return unit of the rental station. The messaging control unit is configured to receive the item availability count from the rental station, and to transmit the return-related offer message to at least some of the rental items in a rented state when the item availability count is smaller than the offer triggering number.
An object of the disclosure is to provide a method  for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations. The method can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.
According to the disclosure, the method is provided for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations. Each of the rental stations has a corresponding receivable number, and the method includes: A) for each of the rental stations, outputting, to a central control station by the rental station when one of pick-up action and return action is performed with respect to one of the rental items at the rental station, an item availability count representing a number of the rental items that are currently available for rent at the rental station; and B) receiving, by the central control station, the item availability count of each of the rental stations, and, wirelessly transmitting, by the central control station when the item availability count of one of the rental stations is smaller than an offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations, a return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations to at least some of the rental items in a rented state. The return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations contains description of an offer program related to return of at least one of the rental items to said one of the rental stations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment (s) with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram exemplarily illustrating an embodiment of the system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items according to the disclosure;
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating steps of an embodiment of the method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations according to the disclosure; and
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the embodiment of the system according the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the embodiment of the system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items 800 at multiple rental stations 3 is shown to include the rental stations 3 that are respectively disposed at different locations, and a central control  station 4 communicatively coupled to the rental stations 3 and capable of wireless communication with the rental items 800. The wireless communication may be performed by conventional wire less networking means, such as mobile telecommunications technology, WiFi, or the like. Each of the rental items 800 has a positioning function and is thus capable of obtaining a current position thereof using the global positioning system (GPS) and/or network positioning technology, and also a wireless communication function and can thus wirelessly transmit its current position to the central control station 4, and wirelessly receive messages sent by the central control station 4 (e.g., push notification from the central control station 4) . The rental items 800 may be bicycles, electric vehicles, fuel vehicles, audio/video guide devices, mobile phones, wireless routers, or any other electronic devices that are capable of positioning and of wireless transmission, and that can receive and display messages from another electronic device that is in communication therewith.
The central control station 4 may communicate with the rental stations 3 via a wireless communication network, wired communication network, and/or mobile telecommunication network. For ease of explanation, in this embodiment, the rental items 800 are exemplified as electric vehicles.
Each rental station 3 includes a pick-up and return unit 31, and a management unit 32 communicatively coupled to the pick-up and return unit 31. The pick-up and return unit 31 is configured to accommodate, at its full capacity, a receivable number of the rental items 800, is operable to perform pick-up actions and return actions with respect to the rental items 800. For example, the pick-up and return unit 31 in this embodiment may include the receivable number of parking docks, each of which is operable to lock an electric vehicle in response to a return operation and to release an electric vehicle previous ly locked thereto in response to a pick-up operation. The pick-up and return unit 31 is further configured to generate a transaction message in response to performing any one of the pick-up actions and the return actions, and to transmit the transaction message to the management unit 32.
The management unit 32 is set to have (e.g., store) the receivable number, receives the transaction message from the pick-up and return unit 31 to acquire/calculate an item availability count that represents a number of the rental items 800 that are currently available for rent at the pick-up and return unit 31, and outputs the item availability count to the central control station 4. When the item availability count equals the receivable number, the management unit 32 may temporarily cease the function of receiving  return actions, and only permit picking-up of the rental items 800. The management unit 32 may be implemented as a processor executing program code to perform the actions described above, but this disclosure is not limited in this respect. The rental stations 3 are independent from each other in terms of the receivable number, meaning that the receivable number corresponding to one rental station 3 may be the same or different from the receivable number corresponding to another rental station 3.
In this embodiment, the central control station 4 includes an offer setting unit 41, an offer availability calculating unit 42, a filtering unit 44, a timer unit 43, and a messaging control unit 45, each of which may be a module of program code executed by a processor of the central control station 4, but this disclosure is not limited in this respect.
The offer setting unit 41 is operable to set, for each of the rental stations 3, an offer triggering number, an offer ending number, an offer period, a filtering distance, and a return-related offer message that are independent from those for other rental stations 3. Namely, any two of the rental stations 3 may correspond to either the same combination or different combinations of the offer triggering number, the offer ending number, the offer period, the filtering distance, and the return-related offer  message. For each rental station 3, both of the offer triggering number and the offer ending number are smaller than the receivable number, and the offer ending number is greater than the offer triggering number. For each of the rental stations 3, the corresponding return-related offer message contains description of an offer program (e.g., a limited-time offer, such as discount of payment) related to the return of at least one of the rental items 800 to the pick-up and return unit 31 of the rental station 3 (incentivizes the return of rental items 800) , specifies a return condition, and is used to notify renters of the rental items 800 that the renter would be entitled to receive a benefit (e.g., a discount of payment) if the rental item 800 that the renter has rented is returned to the rental station 3 in a way that complies with the return condition. The return condition may be, for example, that the rental item 800 is returned within a specific period of time, that the rental item 800 isthe first N number of rental items 800 to have been returned since the commencement of the offer program, etc.
The offer availability calculating unit 42 is configured to be triggered by the messaging control unit 45 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3. When  triggered, the offer availability calculating unit 42 calculates a offer available number which is a difference between the offer ending number and the latest item availability count and which represents a remaining number of spots available for the rentersto be entitled to the benefit in the offer program, and changes/adjusts the offer available number in response to change in the item availability count. The maximum value for the offer available number is the offer ending number. As an example, assuming a rental station 3 has a receivable number of twenty, an offer triggering number of five, an offer ending number of ten, and a current item availability count of three, the offer available number would be seven. In a case that two rental items 800 are newly returned to the rental station 3, the item availability count would become five, and the offer available number would be reduced tofive. In another case that the remaining three rental items 800 have all been rented out, the item availability count is changed to zero, and the offer available number is increased to ten.
The filtering unit 44 is built in with a plurality of locations (e.g., in a form of coordinates) respectively of the rental stations 3, and is configured to be triggered by the messaging control unit 45 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering  number for said one of the rental stations 3. When triggered, the filtering unit 44 wirelessly communicates with each of the rental items 800 in the rental state to cause each of the rental items 800 in the rental state to provide/return the current position thereof to the filtering unit 44, obtains/calculates a distance from said one of said rental stations 3 for each of the rental items 800 in the rented state based on the current positions of the rental items 800 in the rented state and the location of said one of the rental stations 3, and screens out any of the rental i tems 800 that is in the rented state and that is located within the filtering distance for said one of the rental stations 3 from said one of the rental stations 3.
The timer unit 43 is configured to be triggered by the messaging control unit 45 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3, so as to time the offer program. One implementation of timing the offer program is to count the time elapsed from the commencement of the offer program. One implementation of timing the offer program is to perform countdown of the offer period, wherein the offer program is terminated by the time of completion of the countdown. This disclosure is not limited to the way of timing the offer program.
The messaging control unit 45 is communicatively  coupled to the rental stations 3 for receiving the item availability counts respectively of the rental stations 3, is communicatively coupled to the offer setting unit 41 for acquiring the offer triggering number, the offer ending number, the offer period, the filtering distance, and the return-related offer message set for each of the rental stations 3, is communicatively coupled to the offer availability calculating unit 42, the timer unit 43, and the filtering unit 44, and is configured to activate its offer messaging function so as to trigger operations of the offer availability calculating unit 42, the timer unit 43, and the filtering unit 44 when the item availability count of one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3. When the offer messaging function of the messaging control unit 45 is activated, the offer availability calculating unit 42 is triggered by the messaging control unit 45 to calculate the offer available number for said one of the rental stations 3; the filtering unit 44 is triggered by the messaging control unit 45 to cause each of the rental items 800 in the rental state to provide/return the current position thereof, to obtain/calculate the distance from said one of said rental stations 3 for each of the rental items 800 in the rented state based on the current positions provided by the rental items 800 in the rented  state and the location of said one of the rental stations 3, and to screen out any of the rental items 800 that is in the rented state and that is located within the filtering distance for said one of the rental stations 3 from said one of the rental stations 3; and the timer unit 43 is triggered by the messaging control unit 45 to start to time the offer program for said one of the rental stations 3. Subsequently, the messaging control unit 45 acquires the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations 3, modifies the return-related offer message to include the offer available number and information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period (e.g., remaining time to termination of the offer period, or the offer period itself) for said one of the rental stations, and transmits the modified return-related offer mess age to each of the rental items 800 that have been screened out by the filtering unit 44. As a result, the return-related offer message received by the rental items 800 would show the offer available number and the information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period in addition to description of the offer program. In practice, display of the information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period may be realized in a way that the rental items 800 show a result of timing performed by the timer unit 43 or by the rental items 800 (if the rental items 800  have a timer function) in a real time manner, or in a way that the rental items 800 simply show the entire time length of the offer period or a time of termination of the offer program.
Moreover, the messaging control unit 45 is further configured to cause the offer availability calculating unit 42 to recalculate the offer available number for said one of the rental stations 3 and to cause the filtering unit 44 to re-screen the rental items 800 when the item availability count provided by said one of the rental stations 3 changes, and to then transmit, to each of the rental items 800 that are newly screened out, the return-related offer message that contains the recalculated offer available number and updated information with respect to the timing of the offer program or the offer period.
For said one of the rental stations 3, when the offer available number becomes zero or the timing of the offer program has ended (i.e., the timing of the offer program has reached the offer period, or the countdown of the offer period has reached zero) , the messaging control unit 45 further transmits, to each of the rental items 800 to which the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations 3 was transmitted, an offer ending message that indicates that the corresponding offer program for said one of the rental stations 3 has ended.
The embodiment of the method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations according to this disclosure includes steps as described in FIG. 2 with referenced to FIGS. 1 and 3.
In step 100, for each of the rental stations 3, when a rental item 800 has returned or when a rental item 800 is newly rented out, the rental station 3 updates the item availability count thereof and outputs the same to the central control station 4.
In step 200, the central control station 4 initiates the offer program and activates the offer messaging function for one of the rental stations 3 when the item availability count of said one of the rental stations 3 is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations 3. Step 200 includes sub-steps 201-203.
In sub-step 201, the central control station 4 calculates the offer available number for said one of the rental stations 3.
In sub-step 202, the central control station 4 causes each of the rental items 800 in the rented state to return the current position thereof, calculates the distance from said one of the rental stations 3 for each of the rental items 800 in the rented state, and screens out any of the rental items 800 that is located within the distance filtering range for said one of the rental  stations 3 from said one of the rental stations 3.
In sub-step 203, the central control station 4 acquires the return-related offer message and information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period for said one of the rental stations 3, modifies the return-related offer message to include the information related to the timing of the offer program or the offer period and the offer available number, and transmits the modified return-related offer message to the rental items 800 that were screened out in sub-step 202.
In step 300, the central control station 4 determines whether the offer program for said one of the rental stations 3 should be terminated (i.e., determining whether a predetermined offer ending condition is met, such as a first offer ending condition that the offer available number becomes zero, or a second offer ending condition that the timing of the offer program has ended, etc. ) . Step 300 includes sub-steps 301-305.
In sub-step 301, the central control station 4 determines whether the item availability count of said one of the rental stations 3 has changed. When the item availability count is unchanged, the flow goes to sub-step 302. Otherwise, the flow goes to sub-step 304.
In sub-step 302, the central control station 4 determines whether the offer period has elapsed from  commencement of the offer program. The flow goes to sub-step 303 upon determining that the offer period has elapsed, and goes back to step 301 when otherwise.
In sub-step 303, the central control station 4 transmits the offer ending message to each of the rental items 800 to which the return-related offer message was sent.
In sub-step 304, the central control station 4 determines whether the latest offer available number equals zero. The flow goes to sub-step 303 when the offer available number equals zero, and goes to sub-step 305 when otherwise.
In sub-step 305, the central control station 4 determines whether the offer period has elapsed from commencement of the offer program. The flow goes to sub-step 303 upon determining that the offer period has elapsed, and goes to back to step 200 when otherwise.
In this embodiment, the central control station 4 controls a lasting period of the offer program by setting the offer period. In other embodiments, the setting of the offer period may be omitted, in which case the offer program is not limited by time, and is only controlled based on the offer available number.
In this embodiment, the filtering unit 44 screens out the rental items 800 located within a specific distance from a specific rental station 3, and transmits the return-related offer message to the  rental items 800 that were screened out. In other embodiments, the filtering/screening procedure may be omitted, and the return-related offer message is transmitted to all of the rental items 800.
In summary, for each of the rental stations 3, when the item availability count thereof is smaller than the corresponding offer triggering number, the central control station 4 would initiate an offer program for the rental station 3, and transmit the return-related offer message to the rental items 800 within a specific range from the rental station 3. Such mechanism can effectively encourage nearby renters to return the rental items 800 to the rental station 3, so as to maintain a certain number of the rental items 800 at the rental station 3 for rent, significantly enhancing operation efficiency of the rental station 3.
In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment (s) . It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and soforth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included  in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.
While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is (are) considered the exemplary embodiment (s) , it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment (s) but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

Claims (11)

  1. A system for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items configured to receive messages sent by said system, said system comprising:
    a rental station that has a receivable number and that includes:
    a pick-up and return unit configured to accommodate the receivable number of the rental items, operable to perform pick-up actions and return actions with respect to the rental items, and further configured to generate a transaction message in response to performing any one of the pick-up actions and the return actions; and
    a management unit communicatively coupled to said pick-up and return unit for receiving the transaction message therefrom, and configured to output, based on the transaction message, an item availability count representing a number of the rental items that are currently available for rent at said pick-up and return unit; and
    a central control station that is communicatively coupled to said rental station, that is wirelessly and communicatively coupled to the rental items, and that includes:
    an offer setting unit set to have an offer triggering number that is smaller than the receivable number of said rental station, and to have a  return-related offer message containing description of an offer program related to return of at least one of the rental items to said pick-up and return unit of said rental station; and
    a messaging control unit configured to receive the item availability count from said rental station, and to transmit the return-related offer message to at least some of the rental items in a rented state when the item availability count is smaller than the offer triggering number.
  2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein said offer setting unit is further set to have an offer ending number which is greater than the offer triggering number and smaller than the receivable number;
    wherein said central control station further includes an offer availability calculating unit configured to, when the item availability count is smaller than the offer triggering number, be triggered to calculate an offer available number, which is a difference between the offer ending number and the item availability count, and to change the offer available number in response to change in the item availability count; and
    wherein said messaging control unit is further configured to modify the return-related offer message to include the offer available number.
  3. The system of claim 2, wherein the offer setting unit is set to have an offer period for said rental station, and said central control station further includes a timer unit coupled to said messaging control unit; and
    wherein said messaging control unit is further configured to, when the item availability count is smaller than the offer triggering number, cause said timer unit to time the offer program, and to modify the return-related offer message to include information related to the timing or the offer period.
  4. The system of 3, wherein said messaging control unit is further configured to transmit an offer ending message to each of said at least some of the rental items in the rented state when one of a first offer ending condition and a second offer ending condition is met;
    wherein the first offer ending condition is that the offer available number becomes zero, and the second offer ending condition is that the timing of the offer program has ended; and
    wherein the offer ending message indicates that the offer program has ended.
  5. The system of claim 4, comprising a plurality of said rental stations, wherein said central control  station is communicatively coupled to each of said rental stations, and said rental stations are independent from each other in terms of the receivable number;
    wherein said offer setting unit is set to have a plurality of the offer triggering numbers respectively for said rental stations, a plurality of the return-related offer messages respectively for said rental stations, a plurality of offer periods respectively for said rental stations, and a plurality of offer ending numbers respectively for said rental stations;
    wherein said messaging control unit is configured to receive the item availability count of each of said rental stations, and to, when the item availability count of one of said rental stations is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of said rental stations, transmit the return-related offer message for said one of said rental stations to at least some of the rental items in the rented state.
  6. The system of Claim 5, each of the rental items in the rented state transmitting a current position thereof;
    wherein said offer setting unit is set to have a plurality of filtering distances respectively for said rental stations;
    wherein said central control station is further configured to receive the current position transmitted by each of said rental items, and further includes a filtering unit built in with a plurality locations respectively of said rental stations;
    wherein said filtering unit is configured to be triggered when the item availability count of one of said rental stations is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of said rental stations, and to, when triggered, obtain a distance from said one of said rental stations for each of the rental items in the rented state based on the current positions of the rental items in the rented state and the location of said one of said rental stations, and screen out any of the rental items that is in the rented state and that is located within the filtering distance for said one of said rental stations from said one of said rental stations;
    wherein said messaging control unit is further configured to transmit the return-related offer message for said one of said rental stations to each of the rental items screened out by said filtering unit.
  7. A method for managing pick-up and return of multiple rental items at multiple rental stations, each of the rental stations having a corresponding receivable number, said method comprising:
    A) for each of the rental stations, outputting to a central control station, by the rental station when one of pick-up action and return action is performed with respect to one of the rental items at the rental station, an item availability count representing a number of the rental items that are currently available for rent at the rental station; and
    B) receiving, by the central control station, the item availability count of each of the rental stations, and, wirelessly transmitting, by the central control station when the item availability count of one of the rental stations is smaller than an offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations, a return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations to at least some of the rental items in a rented state;
    wherein the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations is related to an offer program related to return of at least one of the rental items to said one of the rental stations.
  8. The method of Claim 7, wherein step B) includes:
    B1) calculating, by the central control station when the item availability count of said one of the rental stations is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations, an offer available number, which is a difference between the  item availability count and an offer ending number set for said one of the rental stations, wherein, for said one of the rental stations, the offer ending number is greater than the offer triggering number and smaller than the receivable number; and
    B2) modifying, by the central control station, the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations to include the offer available number.
  9. The method of Claim 8, each of the rental items in the rented state transmitting a current position thereof, wherein step B) further includes:
    B3) receiving, by the central control station, the current position of each of the rental items in the rented state; obtaining, by the central control station when the item availability count of said one of the rental stations is smaller than the offer triggering number for said one of the rental stations, a distance from said one of the rental stations for each of the rental items in the rented state based on the current positions of the rental items in the rented state and the location of said one of the rental stations; and screening out any of the rental items that is in the rented state and that is located within a filtering distance set for said one of the rental stations from said one of the rental stations;
    wherein the return-related offer message for said  one of said rental stations is transmitted to each of the rental items screened out in sub-step B3) .
  10. The method of Claim 9, wherein step B) further includes:
    B4) by the central control station when the item availability count of said one of the rental stations is smaller than the offer triggering number, timing the offer program;
    wherein step B2) further includes modifying the return-related offer message for said one of the rental stations to include information related to timing of the offer program or an offer period set for said one of the rental stations.
  11. The method of Claim 9, further comprising:
    C) determining, by the central control station when the item availability count of said one of the rental stations has changed, whether the offer available number equals zero; repeating step B) upon determining that the offer available number does not equal zero; and transmitting an offer ending message to each of said at least some of the rental items upon determining that the offer available number equals zero.
PCT/CN2019/080341 2019-03-29 2019-03-29 System and method for managing pick-up and return of rental items WO2020198911A1 (en)

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Citations (4)

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KR20120107703A (en) * 2011-03-22 2012-10-04 아이온텍주식회사 Public bike service method and system
CN105489061A (en) * 2016-01-25 2016-04-13 解鸿年 Public bike cloud intelligent parking and allocating system
CN106251495A (en) * 2016-08-08 2016-12-21 滁州学院 The management system of a kind of portable city public bicycle and dispatching method
CN107918979A (en) * 2017-10-30 2018-04-17 东南大学 Charging method is used based on there are public bicycles of the stake without stake compatibility

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR20120107703A (en) * 2011-03-22 2012-10-04 아이온텍주식회사 Public bike service method and system
CN105489061A (en) * 2016-01-25 2016-04-13 解鸿年 Public bike cloud intelligent parking and allocating system
CN106251495A (en) * 2016-08-08 2016-12-21 滁州学院 The management system of a kind of portable city public bicycle and dispatching method
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